Truth and Hammer

Author: Truth & Hammer

  • Scientists develop clairvoyant machine capable of PREDICTING FUTURE

    Scientists develop clairvoyant machine capable of PREDICTING FUTURE

    The prototype device – which was created as part of a joint venture involving researchers from Australia’s Griffith University and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University – consists of a photonic quantum information processor capable of mapping out all potential future outcomes of a decision process. Mile Gu of Nanyang, who spearheaded the development of the quantum algorithm algorithm which underpins the device, said: “When we think about the future, we are confronted by a vast array of possibilities. “These possibilities grow exponentially as we go deeper into the future.  The device constructed by the team works on a much smaller scale, holding just 16 possible futures in simultaneous superposition, weighted by their probability of occurrence.

    However, in theory the algorithm which governs them can “scale up” without upper limit.  Lead author Farzad Ghafari of Griffith University said: “Our approach is to synthesise a quantum superposition of all possible futures for each bias. “By interfering these superpositions with each other, we can completely avoid looking at each possible future individually. “In fact, many current artificial intelligence algorithms learn by seeing how small changes in their behaviour can lead to different future outcomes, so our techniques may enable quantum enhanced AIs to learn the effect of their actions much more efficiently.”  Co-author Jayne Thompson said the team had taken inspiration from the late Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman.  She explained: “When Feynman started studying quantum physics, he realised that when a particle travels from point A to point B, it does not necessarily follow a single path.” “Instead, it simultaneously transverses all possible paths connecting the points. “Our work extends this phenomenon and harnesses it for modelling statistical futures.”

    Co-author Professor Geoff Pryde said the achievements were comparable with those of analogue computing researchers half a century ago.

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  • Kids want Friday off from Primary School

    Kids want Friday off from Primary School

    Ask any kid and they will tell you this is a great idea!  Who would not agree to this?

    Primary school is to give pupils Friday afternoons off as they say that children “lack focus” by the end of the week.  From September, Neyland Community School in Pembrokeshire, west Wales will close its gates at 12.15pm rather than 3.20pm on Fridays.  The move is not a way to “give teachers an afternoon off” nor is it a money-saving mechanism, the school said.  Instead, they argue that Friday afternoon lessons are pointless since youngsters lack “attention and focus” to learn after a full week of classes.  The school claims that the move will improve children’s education, as well as enable families to spend more quality time together.  In a letter to parents, the school said that it is implementing the change after finding that on Friday afternoons “pupils often suffer from a greater lack of attention/ focus than at other times in the week”.

    The school hopes the early finish will “further raise standards and improve outcomes for learners across the school”.  The move was greeted with a mixed response from parents, with one mother saying: “It is a really good idea – I know that by Friday afternoon the kids are burnt out and don’t take anything in.”  Meanwhile, another pupil’s father said: “This is ridiculous. Both my wife and I work so this will mean one of us having to take Fridays off too to look after our kids.”  A spokeswoman for Pembrokeshire County Council said: “We want to establish a culture of inquiry, innovation and exploration where teaching approaches and interventions used in class are research and evidence based on an on-going basis. This is a change to existing arrangements.

    “The intention is not to give teachers an afternoon off as has been mistakenly suggested by some. Teachers will have no change in their current contracted working hours – just in the way they work them.  “If we cannot utilise Friday afternoons in this way then teachers will be end up being regularly taken out of class for training. Naturally this results in disruption for the children and supply teacher costs, both of which we really want to avoid.  “This is a schools’ initiative which we wish to see implemented because we see real benefits for the children by improving their learning experiences and making them the best that they can be.”  Dozens of schools have warned that they may need to close early on Friday in order to save money. Other schools have started their classes later in the day to allow “bleary eyed” students to have a lie in rather than come to school feeling tired.

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  • Jobless claims drop to the lowest level since 1969

    Jobless claims drop to the lowest level since 1969

    The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a 49-1/2-year low last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength that could temper expectations of a sharp slowdown in economic growth.  Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 196,000 for the week ended April 6, the lowest level since early October 1969. Claims have now declined for four straight weeks. Data for the prior week was revised to show 2,000 more applications received than previously reported.  Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 211,000 in the latest week. The Labor Department said no states were estimated last week.

    The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 7,000 to 207,000 last week, the lowest level since early December 1969.  The labor market is the main pillar of support for the economy, which appears to have lost momentum in the first quarter as the stimulus from a $1.5 trillion tax cut package fades and a trade war between China and the United States and softening global demand hurt exports.  Nonfarm payrolls increased by 196,000 jobs in March, well above the roughly 100,000 needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent, close to the 3.7 percent Federal Reserve officials project it will be by the end of the year.

    Thursday’s claims report showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid decreased 13,000 to 1.71 million for the week ended March 30. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims dropped 11,000 to 1.73 million.

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  • Plan For 5G Cell Phone Towers Raises Health Concerns In Moraga

    Plan For 5G Cell Phone Towers Raises Health Concerns In Moraga

    MORAGA (KPIX 5) — An East Bay neighborhood’s fight against 5G is the topic of a town council meeting scheduled for Wednesday night. Moraga residents are expected to turn out and demand the city do more to protect people from cell phone radiation exposure.

    It is a fight that’s been going on across the country and has been particularly heated in the East Bay. Ellie Marks has been outspoken against 5G and cell phone companies for 11 years now.

    “We may not see the full ramifications of this for 20-30 years. How can we just fly blindly into this? It doesn’t make sense,” Marks said.

    Her fight began when her husband developed a brain tumor on the right side of his head back in 2008. She says he was a heavy cell phone user since 1986.

    “He used it all the time; held it right to his right ear and the tumor developed right where he held the phone,” Marks said.

    Fortunately her husband survived, but she says it was her wake-up call. Ever since then, she’s been touring the country, organizing against the spread of cell phone towers and raising awareness about increased exposure to radio frequency.xa

    The FCC and cell phone companies all maintain RF exposure we receive from cell phones is well within safe levels.

    “The FCC is lying to the general public,” Marks countered.

    “So far every major study concludes it [5G] is not having a harmful impact,” CNET Editor at Large Ian Sherr said.

    Sherr has been following the launch of 5G and the race to beat China to a full 5G launch.

    “5G is not just another ‘G.’ It’s supposed to be faster, more reliable and possibly the way the internet runs will change because of this technology,” Sherr said.

    For most consumers, the excitement of 5G is about speed.

    “The promise of 5G is that it will be a lot lot faster, so think of being able to download a movie in seconds rather than waiting a lot longer,” Sherr said.

    Many local governments will say their hands are tied when it comes to regulating cell phone towers. The health and safety aspect of these towers is regulated by the state and federal government.

    Oftentimes the only thing local governments can do is deny permitting if the towers are in the public right of way, but even in cases where that has happened, cell phone companies have threatened to sue.

  • Sony creates colossal 16K screen in Japan

    Sony creates colossal 16K screen in Japan

    The biggest 16K screen of its kind will shortly go on show in Japan.

    Sony’s display has four times as many horizontal pixels as a 4K television and eight times that of a regular 1080p high definition TV, meaning it can show images in far more detail than normal.

    This will let viewers stand close to the unit – which is longer than a bus – without its image looking blurred.

    One expert said it would likely take decades for 16K tech to filter down to consumer products.

    The 63ft by 17ft (19.2m by 5.4m) screen is currently being installed at a new research centre that has been built for the Japanese cosmetics group Shiseido in the city of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. It is so large it will stretch between the first and second floors.

    The development was announced by Sony at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show, which is currently being held in Las Vegas.

    “We’re moving slowly towards 8K TVs at the end of the decade and who knows how long it will take to get beyond that, so 16K is likely to be limited to the corporate world for the time being,” commented David Mercer from the consultancy Strategy Analytics.

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  • How ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’ Embodies Capitalism’s Edge Over Socialism

    How ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’ Embodies Capitalism’s Edge Over Socialism

    A children’s TV show starring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and other Disney characters demonstrates that socialism can’t claim the moral high ground over capitalism, a business school professor argues.  Jason Brennan, a professor of strategy, economics, ethics, and public policy at McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, spoke on the topic of “Fake Socialism vs. Real Capitalism” at The Heritage Foundation.  “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” a computer-animated series that originally aired from 2006 to 2016, reveals that capitalism is better for more of us than socialism is, Brennan said during the April 4 event.  The show, which focuses on problem-solving and now airs on the Disney XD channel, features Mickey and other characters who operate in a “robustly capitalist” society, he said:

    Brennan’s book “Why Not Capitalism?” is a response to “Why Not Socialism?” by G.A. Cohen.  Brennan’s book argues that socialism does not have a monopoly on morality.  “Capitalism has been a tremendous achievement over the past century,” Brennan said. “In the beginning of the 20th century, 95% of people [in the world] lived in extreme poverty and now it’s down to about 10% percent.”  He summed up the socialist vision with these words: “If only we were good, we would be socialist.”  “Socialism commands the moral high ground over capitalism, even though capitalism works,” Brennan said.  However, he contended, if people were perfect, capitalism still would be the preferred system.

    “For me, the problem is the level of virtue, it’s not the institution themselves,” Brennan said, whose lecture was part of a Heritage speakers series called “Free Markets: The Ethical Economic Choice.”  “If you prefer socialism with angels to capitalism with normal people, that doesn’t tell us whether it’s the angels that [are] doing the work or the socialism,” Brennan said.  Some people believe socialism is morally better because of  assumptions they make about the nature of markets, he said.  They say “moral market societies and market transitions are inherently repugnant,” and “the kind of relationship you have with somebody when you buy something from them is in itself kind of foul and disgusting.”  Brennan’s argument had an impact on Therese Antonio, a Virginia resident who attended the event.  “We’re all flawed individuals, including the socialist,” Antonio told The Daily Signal. “And once I really began to really look at what flaws are like, I can see how socialism would fall short because we do not live in a perfect world.”

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  • Biologist Exposes Sushi Restaurants For False Labels For Their Ingredients

    Biologist Exposes Sushi Restaurants For False Labels For Their Ingredients

    “You are what you eat as the saying goes but if you run some tests on that food – as one biology teacher did with her class – you might find out that what you are is pretty disgusting. Biology professor Dr.Jennifer McDonald asked her college senior class to go out to various sushi restaurants and bring back a sample for their lab assignment, so they could extract the DNA and find out if the fish name on the menu was in fact what it said it was. Not only did the class expose some serious fish fraud they uncovered some other seriously stomach-churning “ingredients.”

    Dr. McDonald is a biology professor at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. Recently she tweeted out an experiment she was conducting with her students to sequence the fish DNA from restaurant sushi and see if the fish matched their menu labels. The educator told Bored Panda she got the idea from Twitter of all places, “I was looking for a way to “spice up” my Molecular Biology labs with a practical exercise that integrated the theory portion of the lab with something that was really hands-on, relevant to today’s biology world, and relevant to what my students may one day be doing as Laboratory Technicians when they graduate. One of the developers of the kit we used from the company Bio-Rad sent me information links and it looked really promising. I ordered a kit for my course, tried it out, and it was incredibly successful (and fun!)

    While the educator couldn’t predict all the results, she was familiar with studies on the fish fraud phenomenon, “Fish mislabelling in the seafood and fish industry (even the aquarium industry!) is well-documented and something that many governments are attempting to tackle with stricter rules and regulations, more enforcement, and higher fines. I expected to find results that were in line with what was previously published: about 50% of fish will not be labeled correctly, with some species like red snapper and white tuna being more likely to be mislabelled than others.”

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  • 30 Of The Best License Plates That People Have Spotted On Cars

    30 Of The Best License Plates That People Have Spotted On Cars

    There’s something about vanity license plates that can cause a severe case of eye-roll; this person refuses to make do with a random assortment of letters and numbers like the rest of us and insists on making a statement. “Oh, look at me everybody!”

    Well not always. While some use the opportunity to promote themselves, their wealth and their lack of class, others take advantage of this tiny piece of advertising real-estate to make us laugh. Because on a long drive, any piece of entertainment on the roads should be welcomed, shouldn’t it?

    While the DMV and other automobile authorities do try to keep things civilized and take the fun out of it, these people have found a way regardless. From puns and Pokemon to even getting their puppy involved, this list compiled by Bored Panda is the very best of license plate creativity!

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  • Coffee Shop Criminals Strike Again, Grabbing Computers From Patrons

    Coffee Shop Criminals Strike Again, Grabbing Computers From Patrons

    Ripon police are investigating another coffee shop crime, following several others in Davis and Roseville.  In each case, thieves target seated customers, grabbing their laptops, then running for the door. On Monday, Ripon police say three teenage suspects carried out the heist at a Starbucks on West Colony Road.  Only this time a victim and a Good Samaritan teamed up to take down one of the suspects.  “There was a lot of yelling,” witness Mark Sleming said. “There was probably three or four holding him down, and a bunch of people around him, four or five at least, maybe more.”

    Cops were able to take the 16-year-old suspect into custody. Two other suspects were able to get away.  In September, surveillance cameras captured a similar scene in a Davis coffee shop, showing suspects milling around before grabbing customer’s laptops and making their escape through the front doors.  “That they would be brazen enough to come in and steal somebody’s computer, I mean, the whole thing just surprises me,” Cheryl Bolton said.  In Ripon, a repeat of what’s becoming a more common crime. At a spot where you might order a bold coffee, some customers are becoming victims, of this bold crime.  Ripon police are asking for the public’s help with any information related to any of the thefts. The two suspects that got away, and their getaway driver were last seen in a green Lexus GS300.

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  • Do we need smarter Monkeys?

    Do we need smarter Monkeys?

    Why do we need smarter monkeys?  What next?  Dogs, cats, or even birds?

    Making monkeys more smart and human-like, scientists have used gene-editing to insert human brain gene in a monkey.

    For the first time, a team of Chinese scientists made use of gene-editing techniques to make monkey brains more human-like. By the end, the monkeys, rhesus macaques, got smarter and had superior memories as compared to the unaltered monkeys.

    Researchers edited the human version of a gene known as ‘MCPH1’ into the macaques. The gene made the monkeys’ brain develop along a more human-like timeline. The gene-hacked monkeys showed better reaction times and improved short-term memories in comparison to their unaltered peers, as per China Daily.

    Chinese scientists clone gene-edited monkeys for disease research

    The team successfully created 11 transgenic rhesus monkeys carrying human copies of MCPH1. They said that a transgenic monkey model is practical and to a large extent can imitate the human-specific status.

    However, few scientists also raised concerns regarding the technique, some even calling it ‘reckless’. Geneticist James Sikela told the MIT Technology Review, “The use of transgenic monkeys to study human genes linked to brain evolution is a very risky road to take. It is a classic slippery slope issue and one that we can expect to recur as this type of research is pursued.”

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